Multiple loom.



G. GRATREAQ.

MULTIPLE LOOM.

APPLIGATION FILED MAE.15,1911.

1342,339 Patented Oct. 22, 1M2.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

G. GRATREAU.

MULTIPLE LOOM.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.15, 1911.

Patented 0013.22, 1912.

"UNITE @TATES PATENT EXCEED GEORGES GRATREAU, OF PARIS, FRANCE, ASSIGNORT SOCIETE DU TISSAGE VELOX, 0F

PARIS, FRANCE. I

MULTIPLE LOOMT a time and arranged for simultaneously operating two orseveral shuttles have in the practice failed to give satisfactoryresults.' It has vfor example been proposed to modify each shuttle boxand to provide it with several superposed compartments, the partitionsserving as guides for the several shuttles which are simultaneouslystruck and sent through the sheds formed from the warps by-thedisplacement of the leaves. Then the warps may be considered to besimply superposed and the displacement of their threads by the leavesupward and downward to be effected as if each piece of fabric alone werewoven, in other words the loom may be considered to be simplyconstituted by the disposition of several warps,

like or not, one above the other and of separate shuttles andindependent shuttleboxes proper for the various warps.

For effecting the. transverse motion of superposed shuttles it has beenproposed to employ as many reeds as there were warps, and moreparticularly double lays have been used in the case of the simultaneousweaving of two pieces of fabric on the loom. Also a third warp, in thecase of weaving plushes for example, has been employed, which warp wasutilized only for supporting the upper shuttle. Besides this, since thetwo warps were to converge on the breast-beam of the loom, it wasnecessary to dispose the mails in the heddles on the leaves in twoconvergent planes, so that the threads of the upper and lower warpscould respectively pass through the mails. Then 1t was impossible tovary at will the tension.

of the warps, more particularly that of the upper warp, which alwaysrelaxed a little. From this of course an irregularity resulted in theformation of the fabric, which prejudiced the good output. Also thisdisposition does not permit to weave on the loom pieces of fabric of asmaller width than that of the reed of the lay, that is theSpecification of Letters Patent. 4

. Patented @ct. 22, 1193912.

Application filed March 15, 1911. Serial No. 614,529.

width between the inner openings of, the two shuttle boxes. Thedisposition of the mails of the heddles and of the correspondlng warpsin convergent planes had the result, that the pieces of fabric producedwere applied one on the other during their passage over the breast-beambefore they were wound together round the cloth-beam or severally roundseparate cloth-beams, so that it was impossible to examine the lowerpiece of fabric during the work.

My invention relates to improvements in such multiplelooms, wherebythesaid drawbacks are avoided, so that the simultaneous weaving of twoor several pieces of fabric is rendered easy and safe, while the examination of the lower pieces of fabric during the work is renderedpossible. f

One improvement consists in the disposition of a single box at each endof'the lay for all the shuttles, the box having no dividing partition atall.

Another improvement consists in the direct superposition of the severalshuttles in the box, without the interposition of any dividing plate,guide or other supporting piece, in such a manner, that the lower orlowest shuttle serves as a guide and support for all the other shuttles.

A third improvement consists in the disposition of the several warps andconsequently also of the mails in the heddles on the leaves inessentially parallel horizontal planes and no longer in convergentplanes as hitherto. Thereby the important advantage is obtained that thetension of the several warps can be regulated at will indepen ently ofone another and in accordance with the kind of fabric which it isdesired to obtain.

A fourth improvement consists in the disposition of superposed templesfor the several pieces of fabric in combination with guides eitherbefore or behind or both before and behind the temples, which, guidesextend over the whole width of the warp and serve for keeping the piecesof fabric in a plane smooth state.

A fifth improvement consists in the disposition of at least one spacingguide for each piece of fabric above the breast-beam, so that theseveral pieces of fabric are at a vertical distance from one anotherlarger than the distance between any two superposed warps. Thereby freespaces are -formed, which facilitate the examination Figure 1 is thefront view of the left shuttle-box of an improved multiple loom with twosuperposed of thelay and its reed, Fig. 2 is a diagram of the loom, allthe threads of each warp being disposed in the same plane before theactuation of the leaves, Fig. 3 is another diagram, in which the leaveshave been actuated for producing the sheds for the passage of the twoshuttles, and Fig. 4 is a longitudinal section through the said multipleloom.

Similar letters of reference refer to similar parts throughout theseveral. views.

The shuttles a: (Fig. 1) are directly superposed in either shuttle-box bfastened on the lay a, which carries the reed all in the ordinarymanner. The shuttles a are subjected to the action of the same picker 6in either shuttle-box Z) which picker may be operated a whip, sword orother appropriate device.

The mails (1 (Fig. 2) of the heddles Z mounted on the leaves aredisposed, if the warp; threads are not moved up and down, in parallelplanes, that is in the planes of the warps w and w constituting the twofabrics simultaneously woven. From this it follows that on the heddles Zbeing shifted (Fig, 3) either in one or the other direction the threadsof the upper warp w moved downward and the threads of the lower warp wmoved upward will cross .one another in a line extending over the wholewidth of the warp, behind which crossing line the reed d stops after itsrearward motion (from left to right in Fig. 3 and from right to left inFig.4) for permitting the transverse mot-ion of the shuttles a andwefts. Under these circumstances, no matter what width thesimultaneously obtained fabrics have, either alike or difieren't inkind, during the transverse motion of both shuttles a the lower onesliding on the upper surface of the lay c and thereby supported servesas a guide and support for the upper shuttle which bears on its uppersurface by the mediation of the crossing threads of the two super osed"warps. In this case, particularly if the upper -warp w is regularly anduniformly tensioned, the transverse'mo tion of the shuttles is efiectedconveniently, the wefts are perfectly laced, and the selvages,independently of the width of the warps, are correctly traced.

The two warps w and w are placed in essentially parallel planes. Thepieces of fabric u u produced pass over temples m a respectively, whichare fastened in any known shuttles, and of parts warp w passes order tobe able to re as to obtain the same masses manner (not shown) ontheframe z of the loom. The lower piece of fabric a then passes over thebreast-beam and is in the usual manner wound on the cloth-beam 9 appliedto a drawing-in roller h in any known manner. Above the breast-beam ftwo guides '11 ihigher than the upper temple m are disposed. Over theseguides M, the upper face of fabric u is made to pass before it is woundon a separate cloth-beam 9' applied against a drawing-in roller is. InFig. 4 the upper piece of fabric a is shown to pass from the drawing-inroller is first over a stretching beam 1' of any known kind before it iswound on the cloth-beam j. The stretcher 1" may be disposed on adetachable board 1" which can be placed on convenient projecting parts(not shown) of the frame .2. Where so preferred, of course the upperpiece of fabric u may be wound together with the. lower piece of fabrica on a common cloth-beam, which may be either 9 or or some other beamdisposed on any appropriate place of the loom. 1

In order to insure the straightness of the pull and the evenness of theupper piece of fabric u a guide 0 may be disposed behind the temples mor a guide p before the temples m, or both guides 0 and p may be at atime disposed. In this manner a free space 8 is formed betweenthe twopieces of fabric 16 and a which space permits an eflective examinationof the lower piece of fabric u.

As already mentioned above the two superposed warps 'w and w are placedin essentially parallel planes, although they may slightly converge tothe front as is shown at Fig. 4, should circumstances render thisnecessary or desirable. The lower from the ordinary warp beam t over theguide w and the upper warp 'w from another warp beam o round a guidingroller y, the two parts '2; and y being mounted to turn in suitablebearings or supports (not shown) fastened in any suitable manner on theframe a. It is obvious that the disposition described of the mails g inthe heddles Z permits to vary in any appropriate manner the tension ofthe upper warp w and in accordance with the kind of fabric to beproduced. In late the tension of the warps independent y of one another,so tension in the case of like fabrics to be produced or differenttensions in the case of fabrics of difierent kinds, each warp issubjected to the action of a regulator-mechanism, these regulatorsoperating'independently of one another. These regulators may may bedisposed on any appropriate place of the loom, either on the same sideor on both sides of the side parts supporting the be of any known'kindand the regulators, as their construction is immaterial to my invention.

The guides 0 p and 5 maybe rods, rollers,

or the like.

The loom described may be arranged for weaving more than two pieces offabric at a time.

Each shuttle-box b can be arranged for any number of shuttles, since itsuflices to simply insert the shuttles which it is desired tosimultaneously employ and to subject them to the action of the samepicker e on either side ofthe lay for obtaining the same throw. Thesprings of the boxes are of any known kind andare arranged as usual,their number corresponding to that of the shuttles, although it ispossible and more simple to employ a single spring for maintaining thewhole. Each box I) ossesses as many grooves for the passage 0 thethreads as there are shuttles, or rather as many grooves as the numberof shuttles which it is possible to insert. From this arrangement itfollows, that it is possible to exchange the shuttles as rapidly as inthe ordinary looms, in which a single shuttle is employed. In case morethan twowarps are superposed in the multiple loom, itis easy to disposetheir warp-beams on suitable places of the loom bymeans of bearings orparts attached to the frame 2 and further to dispose separate guides ifor the several pieces of fabric so as to permit the examination of allthe lower pieces of work.

My invention permits any ordinary loom. to be easily turned into amultiple loom.

I claim:

1. In a multiple loom, the combination. with a frame, of a lay rockingin said frame and comprising two shuttle-boxes at the ends and a reed,each shuttle-box having a sutlicient height for several superposedshuttles Without any dividin frame for holding 1n essentially parallelsuperposed planes the warps passing from the lease through the reed ofsaid lay to the fell, heddles adapted to tbe moved up and down andpossessing superposed mails for the corresponding threads of the warps,and several superposed shuttles adapted to be actuated from a commonpicker in either of said two shuttle-boxes, the lowest shuttle beingadapted to slide on the upper surface of said la and to serve as asupport for the other s uttles bearing on it directly in theshuttle-boxes and indirectly by the mediation of the crossing threads ofthe superposed warps during the transverse motion.

2. In a, multiple loom, the combination with a frame comprising abreast-beam, of a lay rocking in said frame and comprising twoshuttle-boxes at the ends and a reed,

each shuttle-box having a sufiicient height for several superposedshuttles without any dividing plate, guides in said frame for holding inessentially parallel superposed planes the warps passing from the leasethrough the reed of said lay to the fell, and

spacing guides in said frame above said breast-beam for holding thepieces of fabric indifferent superposed planes while leaving betweenthem spaces sufficient for the eX- amination of the lower pieces offabric.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature in presence of twowitnesses.

GEORGES GRATREAU.

Witnesses BARTLEY F. Yosr, GEonc Hmscnrnw.

plate, guides in said

